Sylvester Stallone‘s retro action franchise The Expendables has seemingly won fans over, what with the recent success of the second film in the series, The Expendables 2, and a further entry, The Expendables 3: More Expendabler in the works. And though the first films in the franchise have had their fair share of kung-fu action with Jet Li in the midst of things, Stallone has often spoken about getting China’s most famous film star involved: Jackie Chan.
Though he couldn’t make room in his schedule for an appearance in The Expendables 2, Chan has reportedly signed on to read his lines poorly for a third installment, albeit that he gets to do more than just make a cameo. Yes, the box-office superstar – who has made a Hollywood career out of comical kung-fu flicks which pair him with Americans and exist to politely ridicule racial differences – spoke out about such things whilst promoting his latest movie, Chinese Zodiac, which isn’t that Asian remake of the David Fincher film you’ve been waiting for.
Here’s what the Chan man had to say:
“Sly had invited me to be in ‘Expendables 2′ but I was too busy filming ‘CZ12′ and couldn’t make a commitment to the film. But he did extend his invitation to the third movie, which I agreed on the condition that I will be appearing as more than just a minor role with a few scenes.”
As a result of said signing, Stallone is currently re-drafting the screenplay, presumably to add more sequences in which Chan can look bewildered whilst fighting, crossed with various unsubtle references to his lengthy filmography. The Expendables 3 is already set to throw Nicolas Cage into the mix, and there were also rumors that Stallone was looking to get Harrison Ford involved, though that seems somewhat unlikely now.
Meanwhile, Jackie Chan has also spoken out about the potential of a fourth Rush Hour movie, one which would see him re-teamed with motor-mouthed actor Chris Tucker, though it’s currently being developed as another East-meets-West vehicle for the actor and is titled Skip Tracer, because God knows there aren’t enough of those. On this particular project, Chan said:
“The script is currently viewed by Chris Tucker. Personally, I feel that if he were to pick it up, it would be better if we turned it into “Rush Hour 4″ but I do think that three movies for the franchise is a perfect ending. It would be better to start a new buddy movie with someone new.”
By “the script is currently viewed by Chris Tucker”, Chan presumably means that Tucker is trying to negotiate another $25 million deal, because Chris Tucker only works for $25 million a film. Think on that for a while, won’t you?